Heard along the corridors... (3)

Actually, a close friend asked this over lunch in KLCC last week.

"I have two questions I have been meaning to ask for a while, since you work in the government. First of all, did Anwar do it? Secondly tell me, what's with PM and the Mongolian woman?"

I am flattered people think I have access to "Who REALLY killed JFK"-type files, if they ever exist in Malaysia.

It also shows the kind of questions running through the back of the peoples' minds. In fact, it serves as a useful guide on managing public perception. It takes Herculean restraint for me not to feed on their wild imaginations ;)

My answers to such questions? Oh, I already have them memorised from page 25 to 63 of the "Official Response to Touchy Subjects Guidebook for Malaysian Civil Servants Volume XXVII".

What would you do if...

...you see things happening that you think should not? What do you do if the boss does something completely unexpected and perhaps even unnecessary? What do you do if you think it is a strategically inexpedient move?

I can fret and complain and moan till the cows - and all the other farm animals - come home.

Or I can psych myself into believing that the boss, being the boss, is privvy to much more information which I am not. That, as an aide , I can only see a small part of the whole. And when a battle is at its height, the general got no time to tell the foot soldiers why he decides to retreat or advance when the only thing that matters is winning.

I, or the boss - or both of us - may be wrong. But once the bridge is crossed (and occasionally burnt) it is pointless to discuss the merits of the decision. What's more important is the road ahead.

This is not sense of denial or the ostrich syndrome. Call it Political Aide-ism 101, if you will. Really, this is not about being a yes-man. It's about knowing your place in the overall scheme of things.

Am still around...

Been some time since I last blogged. Most would know what me and my colleagues have gone through over the past few months, which really has been an enriching experience. Honest.

One of the many lessons I have learnt over the past few challenging months is to seize the moment. With the boss overseas now and a little precious free time to spare, I would not want to waste an opportunity to resuscitate AideSpeak. Although I must admit that I have been fairly active on Twitter too, at the expense of this cobwebbed blog.

The past three months have been a roller-coaster of emotional highs and let-downs, but more importantly a thoroughly enriching learning experience. For example, I lived through the "one day is a long time in politics" maxim, instead of just being a casual observer. And I have a better sense of what "there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics" means.

Many of us have grown a little wiser from this experience, not necessarily less-trusting and more manipulative. But certainly more vigilant. Thank God for the family and good friends who have stood by during crunch time. Many many thanks for that words of encouragement or that thoughtful SMS.

I couldn't possibly return all the missed calls or answer all the text messages and I apologise for that. For whatever it is worth, I want to keep AideSpeak alive and I even have some fresh ideas on how to go about it.

In the meantime, I need to get back to whatever has been holding me back from blogging all these months...